Eager Gamers Line Up For 'Modern Warfare 2'

DERRIK J. LANG

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ryan Norwalk has cleared his schedule.

The 26-year-old California State University student plans to spend Tuesday gunning down foes in "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," the highly anticipated first-person shooter video game developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision Blizzard Inc.

Norwalk was among the dedicated fans lined up late Monday for the game outside the GameStop in West Hollywood, Calif.

"I want to get a head start," he said.

Thousands of gamers like Norwalk lined up at over 10,000 retail outlets across the country for the Monday midnight launch of "Modern Warfare 2." In the first week, fans worldwide are expected to spend at least half a billion dollars on the follow-up to 2007's top-selling "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" about a well-armed Russian baddie named Makarov.

"I'll start playing as soon as I get home," said Frederick Guese, a 24-year-old fan donned in black paramilitary gear who was in line outside the Best Buy in West Los Angeles. "I think the servers will probably go down tonight because everyone will be trying to play multiplayer tonight, so I'll probably start with the single-player campaign before going online."